DNA test couldn’t determine ages of killed Takoradi girls – Forensic Expert

A forensic expert with the Ghana Police Service, Superintendent Dr. Kofi Agyapong Afrifa who conducted the DNA test on the remains of the murdered kidnapped Takoradi girls, has told the Sekondi High Court that they were unable to determine the ages of the remains of the girls in question.

Superintendent Dr. Afrifa disclosed this when he was being cross-examined on the DNA results he submitted to the court in the ongoing murder case against Sam Udoetuk Wills and John Orji.

The Counsel for the Sam Udoetuk Wills, George Essiful Ansah who was not convinced by the DNA result’s inability to determine the ages of the girls and how long the remains had been dead asked the forensic expert the following:

“Were you able to determine the ages of victims in your analysis?”

Superintendent Dr. Kofi Agyapong Afrifa replied in the negative saying: “No, but [we were able to determine] their sex [gender]”.

Counsel for Sam Udoetuk Wills after proceedings told Citi News they would consider bringing the forensic expert back to the court to answers more questions.

“I was of the view that if you are an expert of DNA, you must be able to determine some of these things. This is because if you are able to determine that this is the person using the sample from the skull, then definitely it is also appropriate that you tell the ages. Don’t forget that he also earlier in his cross-examination made the assertion that looking at them, their age seemed to be of the same age group, so, therefore, you must also be able to determine that these are the specific ages I am talking about.”

While speaking to Citi News, Mr. Ansah also questioned why the DNA results could not tell how long each of the remains had been dead?

“Looking at the dates the girls were supposed to have gone missing, for instance, if you take the first girl who went missing on 29th July, assuming that is the date the first girl died and from the time that you took delivery of the exhibit, you must be able to tell us how old is each bone or human sample is. We must know so that if you say this person has been dead for instance three years, the three years fall within the time the person is said to have gone missing?”

So far, 17 out of the about 31 expected witnesses in the murder charge against the two Nigerians, Sam Udoetuk Wills and John Orji in the murdered kidnapped Takoradi Girls case have appeared before the Sekondi High Court presided over by Justice Richard Adjei-Frimpong.

The court will tomorrow, 23rd October 2020 continue sitting with the pathologist who worked on the human remains also set to appear.